Stereotype plate casting mold



March 8, 1938. w HUCK 2,110,154

STEREOTYPE PLATE CASTING MOLD Filed Dec. 31, 1934 I I l/ I, I 1

' 66 INVENTOR.

E Maw A'r'r'v.

Patented Mar 8, 1938 UNITED: STATES PATEur oFFicE s'mnnoma PLATE oas'rmo Moon William F. Huck, Richmond Hill, N. Y.,'asaignor p to B. Hoe & 00., Inc., New York, N. Y.,' acorporation of New York I Application December 31, 1934, Serial No. 759,983

6Claims.

This invention relates to printing plate c'asting mechanism and especially curved stereotype printing plates to be employedin rotary printing machines, and to .a method of casting such fore, an object of this invention is to provide means and method for casting curved stereotype printing plates having their straight or longitudinal edges constructed and arranged for plates, interlocking engagement with the longitudinal 5 The progressively increasing demand for edges of the margin bars carried on the periphhigher operating speed in modern rotary newseral portion of the printing cylinders, and the paper printing machines, particularly newsprinting plates having recesses or shoulders paper printing presses, necessitates the provision formed therein during the casting operation.

10 of improved means for more securely looking or Another object of this invention is the pro- 10 clamping the conventional curved stereotype vision of mechanism forcasting curved stereprinting plates to the form or plate cylinders otype printing plates, the casting mechanism inthereof. Heretofore these plates were secured cluding means for forming lugs or recesses on or to the plate cylinders by clamping the curved in the printing plates, and the lug or recess formterminals of each plate to the cylinder, and the ing means being yielda le to P t he removal 15 plates were held against movement around the of the plate from the casting mechanism. periphery of the cylinder by abutting the straight A more specific object of my present invention or longitudinal terminals of the plates against is the provision of a casting mold having a casting margin bars secured to the peripheral portion chamber constructed and arranged to produce of the cylinder and extending longitudinally curved stereotype printing plates having projecthereof. With such construction and arrangetions formed on the longitudinalor straight edges ment, the margin bars held the plates against thereof, and members operably supported by the movement around the cylinders, but these bars mold to form lugs or recesses on or in the printdid not secure the plates against tangential or ing plates adjacent the said projections and radial movement from the cylinders such as may yieldable to permit the removal of the printing 25 be produced by the, action of centrifugal force plates from the mold. when the printing cylinders are rotated at rela- A further object of this invention is the protively high operating speeds. vision of a. mechanism for casting curved stereo- Recently means have been provided to secure type printing plates, the casting mechanism inthe straight or longitudinal edges of the printeluding members for forming on or inthe print- 30 ing plates to the longitudinally extending maring plates lugs or recesses having shoulders, and gin bars carried by each printing cylinder, in the lug or recess forming member being yieldable addition to the usual or conventional plate to permit the removal of theprinting plates from clamping mechanism heretofore referred to, the casting mechanism, and means for moving thereby more securely locking or clamping the the yieldable lug or recess forming members. plates to the printing cylinder. Such method, It is also an object of this invention to provide construction and arrangement are disclosed in printing plate casting mechanism of generally my co-pending application Serial No. 759,982 improved construction and arrangement, whereby filed December 31, 1934, now matured into Patent the device will be simple, durable and inexpensive 40 No. 2,050,950, dated Aug. 11, 1936, and in this in construction, as well as convenient, practical, 40

disclosure the employment of curved stereotype r i m a d meiem; in it us printin ates having recesses or Shoulders With the foregoing and other objects in view, formed therein is contemplated- The f which will appear as the description proceeds, the d l Qdges of the margmibaFs and the Stmlght' inventifi resides in the combination and arlongitudinal edges of the-printing plates are 0on rangemgnt of parts and m the details of com 5 fi gi g g fi igggfi gi iggg g i ggg gfi struction hereinafter described and claimed, it recesses or shoulders of the printing plates and being derstood h 5 2; chafnges form force the longitudinal edges of the plate into propor Ions and mmor e a s o cons motion locking engagement with the longitudinal edges may be resorted to within the scope of the claims of the margin ham without departing from the spirit or sacr ficing I In order to insure the commercial employment any advantages of the m of such printing plates, means must be provided For a complete disclosure of the invention, a for their production with suflicient economy to ta led s p n of a Preferred and modified satisfy commercial requirements, and, there-; form thereof will now be given in connection with 55 the accompanying drawing forming a part of this specification, wherein:

Figure l is a fragmental transverse sectional view, taken on line ll of Figure 3, through a of the casting chamber.

casting mold or box showing my invention applied thereto;

Fig'ure 2 is a similar view in which the drag Y or back of the mold has been moved away from the cope or core, and the cast printing plate moved from the casting chamber;

Figure 3 is a fragmental longitudinal sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 1; and

Figure 4 is a transverse sectional view showing a modified form of my invention.

Referring to thedrawing in which similar reference characters designate corresponding parts, In indicates the cope or core of a casting mold or box, and the outer arcuate face l2 of this cope and the inner arcuate face IQ of a drag or back l6 provide an arcuate casting chamber i8 therebetween. The cope l and drag l6 may be provided with a conventional means for cooling these members, such as the water jacket 20 provided in the cope In. In order to remove the cast printing plate P from the mold, the drag or back I6 is mounted to swing away from the cope in the conventional manner, and inasmuch as the means for supporting the cope and drag form no part of this invention and are well known and understood by those skilled in the'art, they are not illustrated in this application.

Side gauges 22 are pivotally-secured to the drag or back l6, as indicated at 24, and each side gauge 22 is provided with an inner flange 26 which extends into the casting chamber [8 between the cope l0 and drag [6 to provide the side terminals The flange 26 of each side gauge 22 is undercut and beveled throughout its length, as indicated at 28, to provide means for casting beveled lugs or projections 30 on the inner portion of the longitudinal edges of the cast printing plate, as shown: in Figures 1 and 2, and which will be more fully disclosed hereinafter. Arcuate grooves or channels 32 are formed at spaced intervals in the cope or core H], as indicated in Figure 3, to form the conventional ribs 34 on the inner face of the printing plate P.

Shafts 36 are operably positioned at'each side of the casting mold adjacent the straight edge terminals of the casting chamber, as indicated in Figures 1 and 2. Each shaft 36 having an operating handle or lever 31 secured thereto is rotatably mounted in tubular bearing members 38 resleeves 4 2 are mounted for limited rotation on eachfsha'ft'36, and are interposed longitudinally between the tubular bearing members 38. Each movable member or sleeve 42 is provided with a longitudiiiall'y extending projection or lug 44 which extends into the casting chamber ill! to provide recesses 46 in the inner face of the printing plate adjacent its longitudinal. edges, as will be hereinafter more fully disclosed. Each projection or lug 44 is provided with a radially extending surface orshoulder 48, which forms a shoulder 50 at one side of each recess 46. 'In order to permit limited rotation of the movable sleeves 42 ontheir supporting shafts 36, each sleeve 42 is provided with an arcuate recess 52, and keys or feathers'54, secured to the shafts 36, extend into the arcuate recess 52, thus limiting the relative movement between the supporting shafts 36 and the rotatable sleeves 42. Plates 56 are secured at opposed sides of the cope by screws or other suitable securing means 56, and these plates are positioned to project into .the longitudinal bores or apertures 40, as indicated at 66, to form portions of the side wall of the casting chamber l8. Boresor apertures 62 are formed in the cope at opposed sides thereof and intersect the longitudinal bores 46, and a shoulder or stop surface 65 is formed on each movable sleeve 42 and extends into each bore 62. A plunger 66 is slidably. received within each bore 62 and is pressed into engagement with the shoulder or surface 64, formed on each sleeve 42, by a helical extension spring 66, and the opposed terminal of each spring 68 engages a stop screw or plug'lll which is screwed to the cope at one terminal of the bore 62. A portion of eachmovable sleeve 42 is cut away to provide an arcuate recess 12 in which the lower terminal 60 of each plate 56 projects, and the rotary movement of each movable sleeve 42 on the supporting shaft 36 in either direction is limited by the lower terminal of the plate 56 engaging the stop walls or shoulders formed at each side terminal of the arcuate recess 12. Any suitable means, such as hand wheel or lever, may be provided for rotating the shafts 36, and inasmuch as these members are common and understood by those skilled in the art they have not been illustrated in the drawing of this application.

In the form of the invention disclosed in Figure 4, each rotatable sleeve 42a has a lug or projection 44a extending therefrom defining a tangen-- 7 indicated in Figure l, molten metalis supplied in the usual way to the casting chamber in which .the usual matrix M is positioned. After the metal has cooled to solidify it, the drag or back of the mold is moved away from the cope or core and the plate is then removed from the cope. The

' movement of the solidified orcasted printing plate P from the cope causes its shoulders 50 to engage the projections 44 of the movable sleeve 42 and move them against the influence of the spring 68 to the position indicated in Figure 2, thereby releasing the plate so it can be readily removed from the mold and conveyed to the desired destination. As the movable sleeves 42 move against the tension of the springs 68 no motion is imparted to the shafts 36, but if for any" reason one or more of the movable sleeves should stick or bind in the mold in closed or casting position they can be forcibly moved to open or releasing position by rotating the shafts 36 until the key 66 engages the end walls of the arcuate recess 52, and continued rotation of the shaft forces the movable sleeve to openposition thus releasing the plate to permit its removal from the mold. After the casted printing plate has been removed from the mold the movable sleeves are pressed back to normal casting posi- 70 mechanism ad acent the casting chamber, yieldtion by the springs 68, and after the drag has been moved to plate casting position the casting operation may be repeated.

The operation of the device depicted in Figure 4 is similar to that disclosed in Figures 1, 2, and

3, but the described components are arranged to cast printing plates having lugs on which shoulders 500 are formed instead of the recesses shown in the previously described mechanism.

Having thus described my invention what I claim is:

l. A printing plate casting mechanism, including a mold having a semi-cylindrical casting chamber constructed and arranged to cast semicylindrical stereotype printing plates for use on printing cylinders, each plate having the outer portions of its straight axial edges removed to form reduced locking projections on the straight axial edges and forming uninterrupted continuations of its inner arcuate surface, yieldable movable members operably supported by the mold to form a part thereof, means for normally biasing the movable members for moving portions thereof into the casting chamber so that said portions form locking shoulders on the inner face of the printing plate adjacent the locking projections, the movable members being yieldably movable from the casting chamber in response to movement of the printing plate to permit the removal of the printing plate from the casting chamber, and means for moving the movable members from the casting chamber independently of the-movement of the cast plate, the shoulders and locking projections arranged for cooperative engagement with looking instrumentalities to lock the printing ,plate in printing position on the printing cylinder.

2. A printing plate casting mechanism, including a mold having a semi-cylindrical casting chamber constructed and arranged to cast semicylindrical stereotoype printing plates for use on printing cylinders, each plate having the entire outer portions of its straight axial edges removed to form reduced locking projections on the straight axial edges and forming uninterrupted continuations of its inner arcuate surface, movable members operably supported by the mold to forma part thereof, shoulder-forming lugs carried by the movable, members, means for normally biasing the movable members to move the shoulder-forming lugs into the casting chamber to form locking shoulders on the inner face of the printing plate adjacent the locking projections,- the movable members being yieldably movable rwponsive to movement of the cast printing plate to move the shoulder-forming lugs from the casting chamber against the influence of the biasing means to permit the removal of the cast printing plate, and manually operable means for movingthe yieldable members independently of the movement of the cast plate, the shoulders and locking projections arranged for cooperative engagement with locking instrumentalities to lock the printing plate in printing position on its printing cylinders.

3. A printing plate casting mechanism, including a casting chamber constructed and. arranged to cast curved printing plates having projections formed on the straight edges thereof, movable members operatively supported by the casting able means for moving the movable members in position to form a part of the casting chamber, the movable members being constructed and arranged to form shoulders on'the inner face of the printing plate adjacent the projections when in position to form part of the casting chamber and movable from the casting chamber against the influence of the yieldable means by the movement of the cast printing plate to permit the removal of the cast printing plate from the casting chamber.

4. A printing plate casting mechanism including a. casting chamber constructed and arranged to cast curved printing plates having projections formed on the straight edges thereof, movable members operably supported by the casting mechanism adjacent the casting chamber, yieldable means for moving the movable members in position to form a part of the casting chamber, the movable members being constructed and arranged to form shoulders on the inner face of the printing plate adjacent the projections when in position to form part of the casting chamber and movable from the casting chamber against the influence of the yieldable means by the movement of the cast printing plate to permit the removal of the cast printing plate from the casting chamber, and means for moving the'movable members independently of the movement of the cast printing plate.

5. A printing plate casting mechanism, including a cope having an arcuate outer face, a drag having an arcuate inner face, the arcuate faces of the cope and drag defining a semi-cylindrical casting chamber therebetween for casting a se' cylindrical printing plate, beveled surfaces positioned at the straight terminals of the casting chambers to form beveled projections on the straight edges of the printing plate, rotatable members operably supported by the cope, projections formed on therotatable members and normally extending into the casting chamber to form shoulders on the inner portion of the printing plate adjacent its beveled straight edges, yieldable means for biasing the rotatable members to positions in which their projections extend into the casting chamber.

6. A printing plate casting mechanism including a cope having an arcuate outer face, a drag having an arcuate inner face, the arcuate faces of the cope and drag defining a semi-cylindrical casting chamber therebetween for casting a semicylindrical printing plate, beveled surfaces positioned at the straight terminals of the casting chamber to form beveled projections on the straight edges .of the printing plate, rotatable members operably supported by the cope, projections formed on the rotatable members, yieldable means for biasing each rotatable member toward a position in which its projection extends into the casting chamber to form a shoulder on the inner portion of the printing plate adjacent its beveled straight edge, the yieldable means permitting the rotatable members to be moved by the movement of the casted printing plate to positions in which the projections are withdrawn from the casting chamber to permit the removal of the casted plate therefrom, and means for moving the movable members independently of the movement of the printing plate.

WILLIAM F. HUCK. 

